The Fall of Traxti City
Day 23 of the Nameless One’s escape
Early morning, Traxti City
“Whispering Logic, what is going on?” An annoyed voice grumbled at a light blue unicorn stallion with carefully groomed dark blue mane. His cutiemark currently hidden by the suit he was wearing.
“Rioting from the looks of it.” Whispering Logic was looking sideways out the window as he held up a rock in his blue magic. He had heard a loud crash in the front office and discovered that one of the windows was broken and with the rock that he was now levitating in the midst of it.
“Any sign of the Peace Keepers?”
“No, Envoy, not yet.” Whispering Logic shook his head at the unremarkable brown earth pony with a map overlaid by a dove for a cutiemark.
“I don’t think they will be coming anytime soon my little ponies.”
“Discord!” Whispering Logic threw the rock at a pair of yellow eyes blinking on the far wall. An orange oven mit caught the rock before it reached the wall and the eyes upon it.
“Trying to get an early start on hoofball season there Whispering Logic?” Discord commented as he fully materialized.
“I bet this was your idea of fun.” Whispering Logic snapped. “And how many times have I told you! We aren’t your little ponies!”
“Whatever.” Discord waved him off. He slid over to the currently smashed window and took a peek of the streets below. “I’m all for pranks and jokes, but only if it is in good fun. This… this is just cruel…”
“Says the draconequus who once helped Tirek steal ponies talent magic.”
“GAH!” Discord cried out in exasperation. “I’m never going to live that down.”
“Back up.” Whispering Logic suddenly pulled the draconequus roughly away from the window. A molotov cocktail crashed through the window that Discord was just standing by. Discord snapped his tail and the resulting fire disappeared in a cloud of confetti.
“I think it’s time to disperse this crowd.” Discord snapped a crate with a label on the side:
Caution!
poisonous snakes and scorpions
He opened a window and casually thrusted it out. The sounds of it crashing on the street followed by panicked screams got a chuckle out of Discord.
At the shock looks of the diplomats Discord shrugged. “What? It was just a barrel of rubber snakes and scorpions…”
Day 25 of the Nameless One’s escape
Just before midnight, Traxti City
Three days and coming on three nights of rioting had exhausted Discord. His magic reserves were still fine but his physical reserves, however, were nearly tapped out. At least he was able to at least minimize damage and injuries, but he didn’t know how much longer that would last.
“What am I going to do? Dealing with dark magic and magic mishaps I can do but dealing with the intricacies of grating and conflicting personalities… not to mention people who don’t want to get along...” Discord sighed, putting his head literally in his hands.
What was worse was that he was sure that someone or someones was pulling strings but who or whom ever was doing it was very clever. Everytime he thought he was getting close he would find out that the trail was a fake, and by the time he got on what he thought was the real trail it had gone cold. Tirek was easier to track down.
“I hate mazes when I’m the one in them… and I hate cheese.” Discord grumbled as he tiredly rested again the roof access door.
Discord looked up but the lights of the city and the smoke from the rioting and looting masked a lot of the stars. He was not sure why Harmony would have him do this type of work. Harmony would have done better, sadly, he was not well enough to deal with all of this. The ash illness was weakening him severely and with one of the necessary ingredients only native in Equestria and the lands around it he regrettably understood why he remained in Hourglass.
The sounds of approaching chanting pulled Discord from his inner thoughts. No rest for him tonight, again.
Day 26 of the Nameless One’s escape
Early morning, Traxti City
Whispering Logic awoke in searing pain. “Argh! My horn it hurts!”
“Your horn! It feels like my hooves are on fire.” Envoy screamed.
Discord was startled awake by the noise. He could feel a numbness in his hands and tail. The areas where he typically gathered his magic just like a unicorn’s horn and an earth pony’s hooves. Something was not right. He went to the window and carefully peek through the blinds. The sun was just rising but the sky had an odd green glow to it. Green?
Discord snapped a claw and flashed to the roof of the building. A pain suddenly shot through his claw. What is going on with my magic? Discord ignored the pain for a moment to survey the city. From what he could see there was a magic dome of a greenish tint over the city. A shiver went down his spine as he tried to figure out what the dome’s purpose was. Something about the dome was familiar, too familiar. He peered downwards to see that the streets were flowing with dazed and panicked citizens.
Another snap, this time with his tail, and he was back in the diplomat’s office. “We need to get out of here right now. Someone has put a magic disrupting shell that also drains magic like Tirek.”
“Why would anyone do that?”
“Someone that as more powerful than Sombra, Tirek, Nightmare Moon, and Chrysalis combined at the peak of their power. A dark magic master who nearly destroyed the world once and will mostly likely try again. He is more powerful then the Elements of Harmony. Equestria may burn to ash and there might not be anything Celestia, Luna, or The Bearers of Harmony can do. Is that could enough!?” Discord snapped before he sighed heavily. “We are at the twilight of harmony prey to Faust that there still be morning.”
“‘At the twilight of harmony?’ What in Celestia is that suppose to mean!?”
“I figured that if Storyteller could say the title I could too.” Discord shrugged.
“DISCORD WE ARE IN MIDDLE OF A CRISIS AND YOU HAVE TO CRACK A JOKE!” Whispering Logic screamed, his cheeks going purple from his rage.
“Actually, I broke the fourth wall.” Discord countered.
“GAH!”
A flash of light lit up the room and a concussive blast took out the remaining of the windows and slammed all three to the far wall.
“Everypony alright?” Discord slammed a phone down to get the ringing to stop.
“What was that!?” Envoy slowly got to his feet, dazed a bit from the explosion.
“My guess? The building across the street just blew up.” Whispering Logic brushed some debris off of his back before checking himself for any injuries. “Discord get us out here.”
Discord snapped a claw and all three where suddenly on the roof.
“When I said get us out of here I didn’t mean the roof!” Whispering Logic yelled.
“I’m trying!” Discord grunted in frustration. The dome was sapping his reserves plus everytime he used magic he felt pain. “I may be the self proclaimed master of Chaos magic but even I have limits.”
“We are going to die!” Envoy panicked.
Discord pull a glove out of nowhere and starting slapping the pony senseless with it. “Snap out of it man! Pull yourself together! Get a hold of yourself…”
“Okay! Okay! I get it!” Envoy knocked the glove out of Discord’s paw.
An explosion lit up the sky. Discord and Celestia’s diplomats look out to see the Traxti Lighthouse crumbling to the ground. Before any them could react further another explosion boomed. It was so close that they could feel the shockwave. Looking about they found a near by apartment building engulfed in flames.
“We need to do something to help them!”
Discord put a paw on Envoy’s shoulder and spun him around. “And we will be joining them soon if we don't’ get out of here. Traxti City has fallen and all of Celestia’s little ponies won’t be able to pick up the pieces if they are DEAD!”
Discord snapped his claw and all three disappeared in a flash.
“Gah! That hurts.” Discord yelped as he snapped with his paw an ice pack for his claw
“Serves you right abandoning those people in their hour of need!” Envoy snapped. He was beginning to see that maybe Whispering Logic was right about the draconequus. “I say you aren’t really reformed and need to go back to that stone prison in Princess Celestia's garden.”
“You are so bipolar!“ Discord rolled his eyes. “Remind me again, what were Celestia’s orders?”
“That you are in charge if things got too dangerous in Traxti City.” Envoy answered, lowering his head in shame.
“I think this morning events qualify as ‘too dangerous.’” Discord looked off towards Traxti City in the distance and could see that the green dome was still up. Copious amount of smoke was rising from the city, obscuring the sun in a reddish haze. “Stay here. I want to check up on something.”
“Where do you think are you going?”
“With any luck, to contact Harmony. I’m in over my head right now.”
“The non existent ‘Alicorn Keeper of Harmony’!? Yeah, I heard about ‘him’ from the locals. Fascinating tale of fiction.” Whispering Logic snarked.
Discord grumbled pinching his brow. Harmony why were you so insistent on not being known in Equestria! “Just stay here and out of sight. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
A snap and a flash later and Discord vanished. Leaving the unicorn and earth pony behind. Another explosion could be heard in the distance.
“Uh, what now?“ Envoy wondered.
Whispering Logic grumbled. “As much as I don’t like him. He’s right. It’s best we stay out of sight and wait for his return.”
Council of Harmony Chambers, Plane of Harmony
Late evening Hourglass City, Early morning Traxti City
Discord appeared in the Council Chambers and noticed that there was a young white dragon with a set of rainbow horns sitting in front of Harmony’s throne. “What are you doing in here?”
“Meditating He of Laughter.” The dragon responded opening his eyes and standing up. Discord noticed that this dragon had dual colored eyes. But he was more interested in why the dragon was here not the strangeness of his eyes.
“Okay, let me rephrase.” Discord pulled out a chalk board from nowhere and wrote what he said next. “Who are you, and why are you here?”
“Why don’t you ask them?” He of Hourglass motioned behind him to the glittering thrones of past Keepers.
Discord smirked as he yelled, “Is the Alicorn Keeper in harmony?”
He of Hourglass jaw dropped he was not expecting him to ask that question. What game was Discord playing at? He had not yet told him about his Choosing and he had made sure that no one told him as he wanted to tell him personally.
The Alicorn Keeper is in harmony. Came the response.
Discord sniffed, drying his tears from his eyes. “I’ve waited ten thousand years to hear that.”
“You did all that on purpose?!” He of Hourglass facepalmed. “You knew the moment you arrived and saw me.”
“Yes.” Discord floated around the dragon taking note of the unusual purple and green pattern of his eyes, horns, ear frills, and tail trident. “I just wanted to be sure that a little of him was still in you.”
“I know that he explained to you once how a dragon matures.” He of Hourglass responded only nominally keeping Discord in his sight.
“Yes, but going from alicorn to dragon is not the same as whelp to adult. How else would you remember that he explained how a dragon matures...”
“I… huh… Good point… but how are you not the least confused or troubled by this...”
“I’m three hundred thousand years old I’ve seen some strange magic phenomena in my day. It was too easy to know that you would become a dragon. You somehow retaining your memories when you became a dragon doesn’t surprise me either.”
“Technically, they’re his...” He of Hourglass corrected. Discord shrugged as he finally stopped examining him and slumped onto his throne. “He of Laughter what is going on? You looked frayed.”
“Something terrible has happened to Traxti City.”
“Should I summon He of Hourglass?”
“Might be a good idea... Celestia as well.”
“Very well. I’ll have He of Hourglass get Twixt’d as well. He might have some insights that could prove useful.”
He of Hourglass quickly sent off two scrolls. A few moments later a portal opened and Twixt’d and the Dragon Keeper stepped through.
“How were you able to find him so quickly?” The Alicorn Keeper was amazed. He expected that it would have taken his firstclaw a bit longer to find Twixt’d. He hardly noticed as Twixt’d hurried about the council room.
“Well it’s not hard as he was been pacing near his old home all day.”
“Twixt’d...” The Alicorn Keeper gave the whelp a hard look.
Twixt’d chuckled nervously. “Sorry He of Hourglass… It’s not like I had anything else to do, and he wouldn’t tell me where you went.”
“I was here. Trying to figure out what panicked me.” The Alicorn Keeper felt the familiar feeling and breathed out a small flame which quickly turned into a scroll. “It appears Celestia is ready.”
A second later and Celestia image appeared.
“Cool.” Twixt’d commented as he noticed the white alicorn mare’s image. “This place is awesome!”
“Thank you for coming so quickly.” The Dragon Keeper bobbed his head in greetings.
“Something has happened to Traxti City. Twixt’d your familiarity of the ins and outs of Traxti City might prove useful. He of Laughter?”
“The city is encased in a greenish magic dome that disrupts magic and drains it. I need to know, Twixt’d, if during your time in the city did you encounter anything like that? Anything shield like or green that was used by either criminals or the authorities.”
“And that’s one thing that street urchins have is the ability to find out about things that are secret because no one pays to us in anyway…” Twixt’d sighed heavily. The memories still haunted him. “Sadly, I have never heard of anything like that in Traxti City. If I recall correctly, the only thing close was a spell dampening field and it was blue and was never could be city wide… something about not being effective… or at least that was the rumors on the streets.”
“Magic domes like that tend to be weaker the larger they are…Hourglass is the only place that can produce an effective shield of that size. To duplicate something similar is still a long ways off.”
“Could someone trying to duplicate the Hourglass shield cause this effect accidentally?” Celestia wondered.
“He of Laughter?”
“The dome was way too stable.”
“The only other way to match it is to have hundreds casters but that would require being out in the open…and to get that many casters to synchronize their magic is nigh on impossible outside of harmony or heartsong magic. It was a long shot, anyway. Thanks Twixt’d.”
“Your welcome, Secondclaw.”
“What?” Twixt’d shrunk back a bit at the two dragons now staring at him.
“Why did you use that title?” The Alicorn Keeper asked.
“This is an important meeting isn’t it?” Twixt’d quickly explained, hoping to get out of the mess he thought he got himself into. “I really shouldn’t have even be here anyway. I’m just a low life, a street urchin…”
“Enough!” The Dragon Keeper roared, making Twixt’d shrink back. ”My secondclaw has not been wrong yet on the right dragons to join the clan. Your cursing leaves much to be desired, your heart on the other hand… When it comes time for your Choosing and if you still wish to join you will be a member of this clan. Until then I will treat you like you are one.”
“Why?” Twixt’d looked down in shame as he questioned why the Dragon Keeper would want him. “I mean…”
“Must you be so negative?” The Alicorn Keeper shook his head in disappointment.
“Sorry Secondclaw…” Twixt’d looked up at his brother, his eyes visibly watering. He tried not the be so negative but it still slipped out.
“I think it’s time. Don’t you Firstclaw?”
“Sun Princess we will resume in a moment.” The Dragon Keeper spoke to Celestia before he turned to address Discord. ”He of Laughter we will need some privacy.”
“Dragons and timing!” Discord flung his arms in exasperation.
“He of Laughter, even in war life must go on.”
Celestia put a hoof to her mouth as she tried to hide her giggling. Her cousin, even as a dragon, was still the same. It was also wonderful to see the bitterness and pain no longer holding him down. She let the magic on her end fade and soon her image left the Council of Harmony.
Discord floated on out of the chambers and into the Plane. He smiled because he noticed a trait of Harmonious Knight coming out. His love of family.
Once the doors closed the Alicorn Keeper turned to face Twixt’d. “Twixt’d remember when I said that my hoard can’t grow unless the clan grows? That’s only partially true. My hoard name limits me to family, but there are ways for dragons be be a family outside of the clan structure.”
“When you gave him the title ‘Knight.’ You and him agreed to be brothers in a verbal agreement. But it was more then that wasn’t it?”
“Yes, I really thought of him as my brother. True, the name thing was a street thing… but the truth is... I wanted more than a street thing. And when you Chose I thought… I thought…”
“Which is why I wanted you to find a new title for me. When you he agreed to be your brother by accepting that title you become brothers by agreement. Which is all that whelps can do. If you do it now we would really would become brothers. Hatchmates in fact. Do you still want to be brothers?”
“Yes… you really would want me as hatchmate?” Twixt’d then remembered what he said about his inability to call anyone in the clan anything but brother or sister. “Does this mean you you could never not call me brother like you said?”
“Yes…” The Alicorn Keeper rolled his eyes. “I had intended to tell you all of this when you chose a new title…but you are becoming fully dragon faster then I figured. With that in mind, I think now is a good time to for you to learn my hoard name. I was waiting for you to be ready for the responsibility that comes with knowing someone’s Hoard Name. I think you are now ready. My name is Soul Fire.”
“Can I be frank?” Twixt’d smirked. “ It’s better than the old one.”
Soul Fire chuckled nervously. “To be fair, I didn’t chose that one.”
“You still have a ways to go it seems.” The Dragon Keeper facepalmed. “My hoard increases when I share my hoard name which is Golden DragonHeart.”
“Golden DragonHeart?” Twixt’d also wonder how sharing a hoard name have anything to do with hoarding, but he was not in the mood for what would probably be a long lecture if he asked that question.
“The Dragon part is recent it has to do with the Path of the DragonWyrm… Soul Fire explained. “Something you are chosen for by The Voice, and not something you need to know about just yet.”
“You adults have all of the fun…” Twixt’d whined. He wished he didn’t have to wait so long to become an adult.
“I wish…” Soul Fire rolled his eyes. “There are things Golden DragonHeart and I have to do that is no picnic. Double so because we are Keepers. For now, just enjoy the freedom that you have Twixt’d. And thanks again for your help tonight. Just remember to keep our hoard names to yourself it’s best to call us either He of Hourglass or Firstclaw or Secondclaw to prevent accidental slip ups. And now it’s time for you to head off to bed.”
“I’m not a hatchling anymore! Don’t baby me.” Twixt’d growled.
“Fine don’t go to bed, but I talked with Quartermaster and he wants to start bright and early tomorrow morning. A good nights rest will keep you on his good side…”
“He has a ‘good side’?”
“Twixt’d…” Soul Fire warned.
“Fine. ” Twixt’d pouted. “Firstclaw?” A portal open for Twixt’d and he stepped through. “Thanks.”
“It’s so strange how he acts sometimes…”
“How so?” Soul Fire was a bit curious why Golden DragonHeart would say that. He knew that Twixt’d was still learning how a dragon acts and that his life as a street urchin was so ingrained that it would take a long time, if ever, to get it out of him.
“One moment he acts like a mature adult and others a child.”
“A hard street life will do that to you… I can tell you he longs to be a child but doesn’t dare to get his hopes up. He was working on it but didn’t want to push. Luckily, my chosing didn’t affect him negatively. I think it actually was a good thing he remembers him…”
“Hmmm…” Golden DragonHeart hummed in thought. “Let’s get the meeting going again. I’ll contact Celestia you go find He of Laughter.”
“Yes, Firstclaw.”
A moment later and Celestia’s image reappeared and He of Hourglass retrieved Discord from the Plane of Harmony.
“Thanks for waiting.”
“It’s not a problem Dragons of Hourglass.” Celestia smiled. A moment's respite to help a child was always okay in her book. Sometimes it made her wish that she had children of her own. But the right stallion never came along and with her duties as the ruler of Equestria took all of her time now. Maybe it was time to find another student to mentor.
“Back to the matter of the situation in Traxti City.” The Alicorn Keeper began. “Thanks, Discord, for keeping what I’m sure will be the more gruesome details away from Twixt’d I would rather speak to him alone about it. Discord what else do you think the dome was doing?
“The dome also seemed to be affecting the magic power grid of the city. The building across from the embassy blew up just before I got us out of the city.”
“Any pattern to the explosions that you noticed?” The Alicorn Keeper inquired.
Discord closed his eyes, trying to reminder all of the locations. “Mostly older buildings from what I can recall.”
“Riots, social unrest, and seemingly only older buildings that most likely housed the poorer citizens which means less money for repairs… coupled with the likelihood of someone orchestrating this...”
“The ‘Dark One?’” Celestia guessed. No one responded as they all knew that the likelihood was very high that he was involved. It would not be surprising to anyone them if he had know how to construct such a shield.
The Alicorn Keeper paced for a few moments before he sat back down on his throne. “I’m afraid that it would be best that you recall your diplomats. This is going to devolve into a warzone very, very quickly and a warzone is no place for them.”
“I was hoping that we could turn it around.” Celestia sighed heavily. “But I am in agreement. Discord, I’m sending a sealed letter to He of Hourglass.” Both He of Hourglasses inwardly cringed. They both hoped Twixt’d would find a new title and fast. “Give it to Whispering Logic when we are done. It will contain his and Envoy's recall orders.”
“I hate to say this, but at this point it looks like it might be just Equestria and Hourglass and, with any luck, the griffon eyries. Celestia, I suggest that you accelerate on finding ways to unite the griffon eyries near Equestria. Equestria needs to be firm in its unity. On that matter, how is Luna’s investigation into the Cult of the Moon?”
“Better then I thought. Most cultists are just Luna fans and not true cultists. Luna is brainstorming ideas with Twilight on getting those out of the cult before being nominal ‘members’ gets them hurt.”
“Good.” The Alicorn Keeper turned to address Discord again. “He of Laughter find out everything you can on the dome. Who set it up, the true purpose for it, and anything else you may think that might help. I will try and see if he encountered anything remotely similar.”
“If the fighting gets to dangerous fall back to Equestria.” The Dragon Keeper ordered the Crimea Keeper. “We can’t afford to lose another Keeper.”
“Dragon Keeper, something tells me that the ‘if’ is more like a ‘when’ and the ‘when’ will be very soon.” Discord stated.
“Then work as fast and as safely as possible…” The Alicorn Keeper countered.
“Has there been any unusual activity of any kind in or around Equestria the past few days?” The Dragon Keeper addressed Celestia.
“None that that have been brought to my attention. I shall double check once we are done here.”
“‘The Nameless One’ usually coordinates attacks on the champions of Harmony and there has been no attack on Equestria or here. Which is very concerning. Did you figure out the feeling yet, Secondclaw?”
“It’s not directly related to Traxti City. I have no way to sense that far out as I don’t have harmony magic to do so. Something local to the area around Hourglass triggered it. What exactly it is is still alluding me…” The Alicorn Keeper grumbled, “I memory walked major events in his life and even the first couple of centuries of his life before being around dragons dulled his prey instincts… I’ve even used the plane here to experiment to try and trigger the feelings again with the help of the council but no such luck. I even thought it might have been some reaction to becoming a meat eater. Of course, that made no sense… Though it could be a dragon instinct that I’m mistaking for something else...”
“You are so like him.” Celestia laughed at seeing He of Hourglass being frustrated over not knowing what it was that was bothering him and then going off on a tangent. He of Hourglass and Discord noded in agreement.
“What?” The Alicorn Keeper questioned crossing his forelegs.
“Oh nothing…” Came the united excuse from Celestia, Discord, and He of Hourglass.
The Alicorn Keeper grumbled hotly which only got them to laugh more.
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I get the feeling that this is going to be a very, very ugly war.
6021969 I quote from the description:
6022730
By this point it seems it may not even be a victory
6022793 Pyrrhic victories generally aren't really victories...
6022997
Fair enough
He did exist, but I don't believe he does, given that he's abandoned his own race.
If he is still supposed to actually be the alicorn keeper, then he should probably actually take an interest in his own race ever, rather than focusing on dragons, which he mostly did from the beginning of story one, and has pretty much exclusively done since he changed race.
6103102 My rebuttal: A Keeper of Harmony has two tasks one bring the race under them into Harmony and 2 destroy the 'Nameless One' What did Harmony say about harmony?
Discord doesn't seem to be all that interested in the Chimera races he seems very interested in the pony races...
Why?
Harmony/Soul Fire Are focusing on the dragons because 1 ponies are currently in harmony 2 dragons are not... but are getting there fast... 3 The Nameless one has escaped.
fair enough but Harmony did say he never considered ponies to be his people... only his duty...